It’s not really clear why the steeple wasn’t built as part of the original construction project in 1865-1866 even though it was part of the original design. One guess, of course, is money: adding the steeple equaled 20% of overall cost to construct the church building without it, and the church didn’t build the steeple until it received a donation specifically to add it.
Unclear. According to the Courant, the Asylum Hill Congregational Society was able to move very quickly from receiving the offer of funding to beginning construction – about two months, from which I infer they had plans in place. Were these Keely’s? Possibly, but new plans might explain some of the discrepancies in the height of the steeple between 1865 and 1875.
Simply put, it was both. For clarity’s sake, I divide the steeple into three sections: the spire, the clock, and the belfry. This division follows contemporary reporting on the church, which would refer to the individual sections particularly as they were under construction and to the steeple when referring to all of the sections together. The Courant did occasionally describe the spire as a “tower,” but I have avoided using that term except in direct quotes.
On September 25, 1897, the Courant estimated that a balloon departing Hartford went as high as two miles, while another that left Hartford on October 11, 1865 made it almost 4,000’ above the ground.